


think of the tender things that we've been working on

by nosecoffee



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Jughead, Asexuality, Canon Compliant, Domestic, Flower Magic, Flowers, Fluff, He could murder me and I'd say thanks, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I dont really know, M/M, Magic, The Language of Flowers, a little bit at least, does grinding count?, i did so much research guys, i love Jughead so much, i think, i think it does, magic Jughead, mentions of vomit, sex positive Jughead, some offscreen smut, sone minor angst, there's so many flowers in this fic guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 08:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10382772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosecoffee/pseuds/nosecoffee
Summary: Hazel blooms in his shoelaces and his hair and his grey beanie after the football game, after Archie against the bright stadium lights apologises with a sincerity that it makes him feel something swell in his chest.Hazel grows under the cot in the projection booth, along with some hesitant daisies and rose buds.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [angeburger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeburger/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Taste of Dirt](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9663425) by [Val_Creative](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative). 



> Title from 'Don't Forget About Me' by Simple Minds
> 
> I don't know what this is, but I think it's kinda cute

Jughead Jones and Archie Andrews meet on a hot summer day.

Archie gets an extra ice block out of the freezer for him and they run through the sprinkler in his front yard.

They are four.

Jughead blushes and smiles.

Rose buds curl around his bed posts that night, promising to open in a day or two, or wither and die, just like when he met Betty.

~

Daisies spring about under his feet in the next summer, curling around the rose buds in his room, wrapping into his shoelaces.

It only happens when he's with Archie, or on a day that he's with Archie.

Jughead's mother tells him he's special, that not everyone can show how they feel by making flowers appear from thin air.

She gets him a book with flower meanings in them.

He points one out to his mother, when she's five months pregnant.

"We're expecting a baby, yeah?" Gladys smiles at him, runs a hand through his ink black locks.

"Yeah," she agrees, inclined her head towards her stomach.

"This flower means an-ti-ci-pa-tion. We should call the baby Forsythia."

His father looks up from the sink, where he's washing dishes, and his parents share a look. "You don't think that's too close to your name, buddy?" His father asks.

Jughead shakes his head.

~

Jughead makes purple and white lilacs grow in Archie's attic one night, when they're nine, and the leaves have begun to go brown (sometimes, when his mom and dad shout, he coughs up brown leaves, watches Jellybean's eyes widen).

"What does it mean?" Archie asks in awe.

Jughead just shakes his head. "I don't know. They just appear when I feel certain things. Mom says they make me special."

"You're already special, Jug." Archie assures him, and picks a purple one, saying he's gonna give it to his mom.

(Jughead doesn't like to lie, but he's read his flower book cover to cover, and he's well aware that purple lilacs mean hesitant, first love.)

~

Thrift grows thick in the flowerpots, in Jughead's bedroom and hair, when he's eleven.

That's when Archie's mom leaves, and Gladys has read Jughead's book enough to know what the puffed, purple flower means.

"I'm sorry," she says, sitting down on his bed and seeing the colourful array of flowers around his room, all for Archie, always for Archie.

"Don't be." Jughead replies. "People leave. Flowers grow. The world spins. Everyone's sorry."

She smiles at him, feels a daisy grow between her fingers, on his coverlet.

Picks some thrift from his hair, lets it drop to the floorboards.

~

Jughead lies awake the night his dad kicks him out, the words echoing in his head, the memory of purple hyacinths all over the floor, burned into the back of his eyelids. His father has never laid a hand on him, never really raised his voice.

The only reason anything’s changed is because Gladys packed up and left, Jellybean asleep in the backseat of the car.

Jughead hasn’t seen them since, and he’s not sure whether that's a blessing or a curse.

It’s cold in the projection booth; it’s not like they really needed heating way back when. There is a blanket, though, and that’s enough for now.

 He counts down the days in his head, 4 days, 3 hours, fifty-nine minutes, thirty seconds.

When Archie takes him on the road trip he can own up to everything that’s happened, all the things he's been scared about, worried about, sick about since mom left. Maybe Archie will even understand, like best friends are supposed to. Maybe he’ll call Fred, maybe Fred will let him stay and they can be together, and close, and he won’t have to go trudging back to the trailer park like he’s the girl from _Purple Rose of Cairo._

 Like his father is all he has left.

He counts down the days in his head.

And when Archie doesn’t show up, Jughead sits down in a booth at Pop’s, orders a milkshake, and cries.

Vomits striped carnations and helenium petals into the toilet, through the kitchen.

 No one’s there to see him do it so it doesn’t bother him.

Archie was supposed to be everything and more. Was supposed to be the one thing that hadn’t gone to shit.

Now, he won’t answer his phone, or open the door when Jug knocks. Maybe it’s because he’s at the construction site 24/7.

Or maybe something happened to Mary, or Vegas or something and he’s - he’s what? Grieving? How can Jughead justify the radio silence he’s enduring when he doesn’t know what he’s trying to justify?

What if Archie forgot and doesn’t want to have to own up to that?

What if he realised what a dead-weight Jughead really is? He doesn’t want to think it but the thoughts come into his mind unbidden and he has no choice.

What if Archie is sick and tired of him?

What then?

What’s left?

_(There's petunia's in his hair and he doesn't know who they're for.)_

A small, dark trailer, lived in by a man who does not love him anymore, dried, crumpled flowers littering the hallway.

 That’s what.

~

Hazel blooms in his shoelaces and his hair and his grey beanie after the football game, after Archie against the bright stadium lights apologises with a sincerity that it makes him feel something swell in his chest.

Hazel grows under the cot in the projection booth, along with some hesitant daisies and rose buds.

~

Snowdrops and sweetpeas grow along his jeans and his bag as he walks away from the drive-in, for the last time.

He picks them off and litters them along the road as he walks.

~

Jughead doesn't know why he kisses Betty.

Maybe he's just hoping for more rose buds. Maybe he's just hoping for another chance while Archie goes along and wastes everything.

Afterwards, he collapses on her floor and vomits pink camellias, foxgloves, and purple and yellow hyacinths all over the carpet. There are petunia's all over his lips when he turns around, tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispers, registers her shocked look. "I'm so sorry."

Jughead doesn't think she knows the petunia's are for him and not her.

~

Apple blossoms begin to grow when he stays over at Archie's, after scattering petunia's through the police station.

Jughead frowns at them.

Apple blossoms are supposed to signify good things on the horizon, but Jughead's so deep down he can't see a horizon.

He picks one, drops it on the floor, hopes to God he's right.

~

Thanks God when he is, even if he's still not sure God exists at all.

~

The smell of coriander burns his nostrils and the magic in his blood freezes, causing him to still.

Quince grows at his fingertips and he shakes them from his skin before they can stick, like the jasmine did, once.

He doesn't know how to react to Archie's sudden adeptness in flower meanings (maybe he snooped through Jughead's book?) but he doesn't hesitate putting his arms around Archie's waist, putting his face in his neck, breathing deep the scent.

"You're awfully cuddly," Archie comments.

"You read my book," Jughead retorts and feels the vibrations in his bones as Archie laughs.

"I did." He admits, stirs the pot of what Jughead assumes will soon be a soup.

"I'm impressed." He admits, pinking at the cheeks.

"I'm glad." Archie says, cupping his cheek and pressing their foreheads together.

~

He tastes mint at the back of his throat when they first kiss, and then it's a starburst of flavours on his tongue, coriander heady in the roots of his teeth, until he's almost choking on the scents, the tastes.

There are flowers growing on Archie's blankets, along the headboard and their clothes.

Archie's gasping at the sight, at the feel, Jughead's hands tight at his hips.

Jughead rolls them over, slows it down until they're just kissing sloppily and Archie's rutting up against his thigh. He'll let him have this, he thinks, deep red roses blooming from his hands, fluttering from his skin to Archie's hair.

"Jug..."

There are tulips under his bed the next morning.

~

Ambrosia grows all through the house.

It makes Jughead smile, grow some Forsythia in the flower pots by the letterbox, and wait for Jellybean to come home.

Fin.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please feel free to leave a comment and/or kudos, and track me down on Tumblr @nose-coffee.
> 
> Some other notes:  
> Rose Bud - an innocent heart  
> Daisy - loyal love  
> Forsythia - anticipation  
> Lilac (purple) - first emotions of love  
> Lilac (white) - innocence, sweetness  
> Leaves - melancholy  
> Thrift - sympathy  
> Withered Flowers (bouquet) - rejected love  
> Carnation (striped) - refusal  
> Helenium - tears  
> Hazel - reconciliation  
> Snowdrop - hope  
> Sweetpea - departure  
> Petunia - resentment  
> Hyacinth (purple) - sorrow  
> Hyacinth (yellow) - jealousy  
> Foxglove - insincerity  
> Camellia (pink) - longing  
> Coriander - lust  
> Quince - temptation  
> Jasmine - sensuality  
> Rose (deep red) - passion  
> Tulip (general) - perfect lover  
> Apple Blossoms - better things to come  
> Ambrosia - reciprocated love
> 
> Again, thank you.


End file.
